Topic: Water retaining granules under new turf?

[Garden Manager]

Has anyone ever heard of anyone doing this? When we received the turf for our new front lawn the suppliers sent a packet of water retaining crystals, which was supposed to be  spread on the soil and forked in to the top 5cms. Suposedly this makes the resulting lawn more drought resistant.

Here is a cautionary tail against using this material with a lawn:

Wanting a drought resistant lawn i decided to try using it but since i has the turf bed raked and leveled as i wated it i did not dig it in but just spread the stuff on the top and laid the turf over that. That proved a BIG MISTAKE. once laid the turf was watered as recomended, which of course swelled up water retaining gell. This liifted the turf and gave the lawn surface the consistency of a peat bog. Consequently the turf had to be lifted, the gell scraped off and disposed of and the turf relaid  ::). Thing was this stuff we were sent wasnt the normal 'swell gell' you put in the compost of hanging baskets and pots for summer bedding, this was JUMBO SIZED swell gell!

OK so perhaps it would have been better dug in but there were no instructions on the packet as to distribution, so you could have put too much on and turned the soil under the turf to porridge. Personaly i now cant see the point in artifical moisture retaining substances. Far better to make sure the soil itself is improved to retain moisture and to use a drought resistant turf.

Lesson learnt - the hard way!

[GrowingChillis]

O the subject of turf, I laid some turf recntly, and due to the heavy rain at the time the clay soil we laid it on could no longer be worked anymore level, but the turf would die if not laid, so we laid it on slightly uneven soil which was annoting, but the only option. now it has all settled and isnt too uneven.
but there seems to be alot of mushrooms growing on it of different sizes. the garden is north facing and quite shady, and as i mentioned has clay soil. is there anything you can do to help keep down the mushrooms other than of course manually picking them off?
is it just due to the lawn being too wet?
is this a good time to weed and seed it and if so any recomended products?

thanks

peter

[Garden Manager]

Hello Peter.

I guess the reason for the mushrooms is like you have guessed, too much moisture in the soil. Mushrooms (and most other fungi) like damp conditions. Anything you can do help the lawn drain better would help prevent them occuring. One thing to try is aerate the lawn. Make vertical channels by spking it with a garden fork and brush sand (sharp sand i think is best) into the holes.

Might be getting a bit late for autumn feed and spreading grass seed, but if you live in a mild area you could probably get away with it if you get on with it asap.

As for some of your dips, these are curable. Find out where the worst dips are, carefully lift the turf. The relevel the ground underneath wtih some decent soil and use some kind of straight edge (like a straight peice of wood) to make sure  the area is level (make sure you allow for the thicknes of the turf you lifted). Then relay the turf and water in. As long as the lifted turf doesnt dry out this should solve the problem.

I hope this helps.

[GrowingChillis]

Hi

The turf was only laid about a month ago and is established well,
so I dont think it needs any grass seed, but the areation idea is good, half
an hour and a fork and i will be away! but what you said about feeding it, will it damage the lawn if i feed it this late in the year? the garden is in bristol so it should
be quite mild.

peter

[Garden Manager]

Hi

The turf was only laid about a month ago and is established well,
so I dont think it needs any grass seed, but the areation idea is good, half
an hour and a fork and i will be away! but what you said about feeding it, will it damage the lawn if i feed it this late in the year? the garden is in bristol so it should
be quite mild.

peter

I was told newly laid turf (or in your case recently laid turf) shouldnt be fed for the efirst few months until it was established. I was supposed to receive fertiliser with the turf delivery (to put down before the turf  was laid), but we didnt get it. We asked at our local garden centre about fertliliser for new turf and were told it doesnt need it! Turf laid in autumn should get its first feed the following spring at the earliest.

In that case leave feeding and put down a spring feed in spring. Sorry for the misunderstanding i didnt know how long your turf had been laid.

[Si]

On the subject of mushrooms... They are only the fruiting bodies of a huge network of fungi that live in all lawns.

[GrowingChillis]

do tell more.....

[Si]

... Mushrooms are quite essential to plants because they are part of a mutually beneficial interaction that provides your grass with nutrients and even a way of communicating from plant to plant.

[GrowingChillis]

so you dont need to remove them?
it does spoil the look a bit!

[Robert_Brenchley]

All sorts of fungi grow round plants, and yes, they can be completely essential at times. Other times they just enable the plant to grow a bit better. But only a few produce the fruiting bodies you're talking about, and I don't think those are particularly important. So remove away if that's what you want to do.

[Si]

... It wouldn't harm the fungi at all because most have two life cycles... an asexual one as well.